There’s plenty of debate over whether or how biotechnology will help developing nations. Some people see hope in biotech’s promise to increase crop yields, to make vaccines that don’t need refrigeration, and to offer new methods of bioremediation. Others suspect that the world’s poorest people will essentially see the biotech revolution and its expensive technologies pass them by.

Here’s a view of biotech from inside one of the world’s poorest nations, Bangladesh:

…Use of modern biotechnology (recombinant DNA) is at its infancy in Bangladesh. It is mainly confined to development, standardisation, and vitro culture and micro-propagation of cereals, vegetables and horticultural crops. But embryo rescue and somaclonal variation culture are at the lower spectrum of the biotechnological gradients. The fisheries and livestock sectors have achieved insignificant progress. Biotechnological development in Bangladesh is at its primary stage.Lack of infrastructure and shortage of funds and skilled manpower are hindering the progress in biotechnological research. Again, it cannot be used due to lack of interest among entrepreneurs….

(That quotation is from the middle; it’s worth reading the whole short article.)

Biotech Ethics BLOG

This blog is about ethical issues in the biotechnology industry. That includes all 3 main areas of that industry: health biotech, food biotech, and industrial biotech. (The last two are particularly important, and don't get enough attention.)

Unlike my Business Ethics Blog, this one will focus on aggregating information, rather than offering much commentary.